Revitalizing the Militia Can Promote Monetary Reform

Political theory identifies the two greatest powers of government as The Power of the Purse and The Power of the Sword. Therefore, if any powers will serve, these two powers ought to be capable of being worked in tandem to save America from the greatest and most immediate danger facing her: namely, the collapse of the monetary and banking systems—or scams, if you prefer the language of hard-nosed, unabashed realism—that now plague this country.

Make no mistake about it: There will be monetary and banking crises in America’s not-so-distant future. The monetary and banking systems are inherently unstable and inevitably and inexorably self-destructive. The systems’ failure may be chronic—a long drawn-out degeneration; episodic—a series of sharp, but relatively limited crises; or even catastrophic–a single mammoth collapse. But fail they will. And even if the systems do not self-destruct, they can be destroyed by outside actors and events—in particular, the emergence of the Islamic gold dinar and silver durham.

Also make no mistake about it: The Establishment will not reform the monetary and banking systems on its own initiative before a major crisis breaks out, for the simple reason that it cannot fashion a true reform—as opposed to a refurbishment or rehash—of the present systems that will maintain its power over, and profits from, America’s economy. Because rational economic calculation is impossible in a socialist economy, and extremely difficult in a fascist economy, no workable reform of money and banking can come from the top down, through the ministrations of politicians, bureaucrats, and the special-interest groups they serve. Rather, it must come from the bottom up, through the free market. But the Establishment cannot control a bottom-up, free-market reform. And there is zero likelihood that such a spontaneous, popular reform would confirm the Establishment in its position of economic dominance. Which, of course, is why the Establishment imposed on this country a system of central banking and fiat legal-tender currency irredeemable in silver or gold in the first place.

Reform through purely private action is possible. Yet the most realistic prediction must be that private action will afford too little reform and will arrive too late.

Also not beyond the realm of probability is that such workable alternatives as this author’s State electronic gold currency plan will probably not be tried at all, or at least not in time. For even State politicians who are not the Establishment’s outright stooges are likely to continue to concede plenary authority over money and banking to the General Government and the Federal Reserve System. And the vast majority of citizens will not compel their State legislators to enact a reform of this type, because they comprehend neither the pressing need for nor the logic of the proposed solution.

But if monetary and banking reform will not be enacted on their own merits, the solution to the problem can be approached from another direction that people do understand. The nature of this other direction is indicated, even dictated, by what Americans can expect to happen in the course of any major monetary and banking crisis.

Whether it takes years, months, or even just days, a breakdown in the monetary and banking systems will engender not only vast economic dislocations and losses, but also political and social conflicts, chaos, and clashes punctuated with mass violence, all leading to political upheaval. Specifically,

• People will be gripped by insecurity and fear born of ignorance. The vast majority will not understand why the monetary and banking systems have failed, and will have no idea as to what to do about it. Not only will people lack the necessary education that they could and should have obtained, but also, with the economic house of cards collapsing on their heads, they will have neither the time nor the leisure to study the problems in depth. Forced to respond to events as they occur, and to work with whatever they have at the moment—which, intellectually at least, will be next to nothing—most people will be unable to face a reality they cannot comprehend, and particularly to assume the responsibilities self-government imposes on them. Instead, they will pass the buck to politicians, bureaucrats, assorted “experts”, and well-organized, vocal special-interest groups.

• As the situation degenerates, people will become increasingly desperate about their personal economic positions. Yet, if some will engage in wild economic speculation, most will simply plod ahead, wearing the blinders of a self-imposed and self-destructive economic conservatism. As long as the monetary and banking systems continue to “work”–in the sense that prices for goods and services are still quoted in Federal Reserve Notes, credit cards honored, and checks clear—the great majority will cling to the systems the very “workings” of which are destroying the economy. This happened in Germany in 1923 and repeatedly in such Latin American countries as Argentina and Brazil after World War II, and predictably will be repeated here.

• In such circumstances, all too many people will become indifferent to anything except trying to maintain their material positions. Amorality and even immorality will take charge, repealing all the rules of civilized conduct, in favor of the maxims: “look out for Number One” and “what’s in it for me”. This will undermine social, community, and even familial solidarity, cohesion, and obligation.

• There being no honest money, honest trade will break down, leaving as alternatives: “white” markets, increasingly denuded of goods and services because individuals refuse to accept rotten Federal Reserve currency; “black” markets, where goods and services are more readily available, but only in exchange for stable currencies such as silver or gold coins; and outright criminal markets, where anything goes, but in which the laws of property and contract do not apply beyond the range of the firearm one is carrying.

• What passes for “the free market” in this country will contribute nothing useful. Quite the contrary: If they do not openly promote currency depreciation, big businessmen will not oppose the process, because they will profit by paying off their debts with ever-less-valuable legal tender. Organized labor will forget the lessons taught by such of its early leaders as Samuel Gompers, that the only protection for working men and women is to receive their wages in hand in sound money of silver and gold. Instead, union big wigs will propose even more governmental and special-interest control over money and banking than exists today. And other selfish special-interest groups that can devise a way to reap windfall profits from monetary decomposition will do nothing to retard it, and even much to accelerate it.

• Some people may realize that solutions for their economic problems depend upon their active participation in restructuring their country’s political apparatus. Most, however, will sheepishly look to politicians for leadership. But politicians will not want, or will be unable, to do anything constructive, because that would require radical changes in the monetary and banking systems, and thereby endanger their careers. So they will put off for as long as possible any real reform.

• Politicians’ refusal to grapple with the problems besetting common Americans–while the rich and well-connected continue to prosper, and even centralize more wealth and power in their grasping hands–will convince most people that contemporary “government” is simply a criminal enterprise, based on political, economic, and social cronyism, bribes, blackmail, and payoffs. That realization will destroy the political apparatus’s credibility and authority. Although such delegitimization is long overdue, it will unfortunately also tend to discredit constitutional government and patriotism, which all too often and easily are confused with the apparatus and loyalty to the political party in temporary control of it.

• When a generalized contempt for politicians, bureaucrats, and their clients in special-interest groups sufficiently taints the institutions of government, subversion of all law and order will follow with a vengeance. A general willingness on the part of private citizens to breach contracts, commit business torts and commercial frauds, and evade debts and taxes will not be the half of it, either. Especially dangerous is that public officials, including the police, will use the law to break the law–first, because many will find themselves under the same economic pressures as ordinary Americans; second, because they will be in an especially favorable position to impose their wills on others; and third, because they will believe (just as they do today) that they are somehow entitled to “immunity” for whatever acts they commit while in office or uniform. Having violated economic law for so long, though, perhaps this country should not be surprised if other laws are broken, too.

• Soon, mounting chaos will stimulate a search for culprits or scapegoats. Although nothing would benefit Americans more than identifying those individuals who have caused this country’s monetary and banking problems, and who obstruct reform, the inquiry will be orchestrated by the Establishment, and therefore will degenerate into a witch-hunt, designed to attribute guilt to anyone but the really culpable parties. That such a deflection of responsibility from the perpetrators to whatever patsies may be set up could be effective cannot be doubted.

After all, if the President of the United States could be assassinated and the perpetrators could not only pull off the cross fire but also control the course of the ensuing investigation, and arrange a comprehensive cover-up, while everyone in the country was watching, cannot the far more complex scam being run in the monetary and banking fields, about which 99.999% of Americans understand next to nothing, be equally obscured? For example, one can expect that, because Federal Reserve Notes will be depreciating as against silver and gold, the Establishment will denounce anyone advocating the use of silver and gold as currency as somehow responsible, and demand that the government confiscate all privately owned silver and gold. And one can expect that many Americans will believe what they are told on this score. Such Oswaldization will not have to make sense, only to be broadcast loudly and repeatedly, while the real reasons for the situation are systematically suppressed.

Part 2: ‘Revitalizing the Militia Can Promote Monetary Reform’

PART ONE of this Commentary described the social, economic, and political consequences of a breakdown in the monetary and banking systems…

Throughout all of this, the Establishment will endeavor to maintain control by crackdowns–with whatever level of intimidation and violence may be necessary to keep a lid on dissent, civil disobedience, and other disorders. This is neither a guess nor a prediction, but rather an observation. The Establishment is the only major group in this country that has a plan which it is putting into practice right now for dealing with a monetary and banking crisis: namely, erection of a national police state under the guise of “homeland security”.

Of course, a police state can provide no real solution for a monetary and banking crisis. Quite the contrary. Imposition of a national police state will merely exacerbate the problem. A police state will bring America nothing but a continuation of unsound money and dishonest banking. Worse yet, a police state will prevent common Americans from protecting themselves against monetary looting, and punish those who try to do so, while protecting the acaparadores (political looters) even more than they are being protected now. In the long run, though, even the most vicious police state will break down, because nothing it can do can prevent the phony systems of fiat currency and central banking from collapsing beneath it. So a police state cannot provide a “solution” even from the Establishment’s myopic point of view, only an hiatus during which the situation will become an order of magnitude more explosive and less containable.

On the theory that one should light a candle rather than curse the darkness, the foresightful can point to a glimmer of hope in all this. As bad as it is, this situation presents both a set of dangers and an opportunity. In the long term, the danger is a monetary and banking crisis. In the short term, the danger is a police state. Most Americans may not understand the money and banking problems facing them. But they do understand and even hate a police state. In that rests their opportunity.

The essence of today’s “political correctness”—that is, goodthinking according to the Establishment’s lights—is to eschew “hate”. What, though, is “hate”? According to the dictionary, “hate” is “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury”. Well, should every American not fear a police state? Should every American not be angry that any politician or bureaucrat is trying to impose one? Should every American not feel injured in such circumstances? A police state is political evil incarnate. So, should not it, and those who promote and administer it, be the subjects of intense hostility and aversion?

Unfortunately, hostility and aversion by themselves are only a reaction, not a plan. What is the antidote to the police state now being set up in this country? The only antidote is revitalization of “the Militia of the several States”. I say again: The only antidote to a police state in this country is revitalization of “the Militia of the several States”. Print out this page and save it, so that when a police state has been set up, you can read it once more, and realize that you knew the answer when there was still time, even if you did nothing about it. Especially if you did nothing about it.

In addition, revitalizing “the Militia of the several States” may be the best way to begin reform of the monetary and banking systems before it is too late, and thereby avoid confrontation with a police state entirely. “To begin reform before it is too late” is the key insight. After the crisis reaches an advanced stage, mere reform of existing institutions will not suffice. The only alternative will be reconstruction from scratch upon the rubble of a collapsed society. That is, if nothing is done soon, the precondition for change will be a financial and economic disaster. It will be necessary to see the country destroyed in order to save it. Then a desperate need for the Militia will arise. The essence of strategy, however, is to avoid fighting pitched battles if victory can be attained by other means. If revitalized in time, “the Militia of the several States” could help to avert, or could mitigate, a monetary and banking crisis, and at least would be prepared to intervene when such a crisis breaks out.

For constitutional monetary and banking reform to take place through the free market, a “big player”—which consists of many individuals and commands significant economic resources—must begin to use silver and gold as its media of exchange. A “big player” could be an institution that already exists, or one that can be organized quickly and comprehensively throughout a large geographical area or legal jurisdiction. A “big player” that already exists could be a State. But it may not be politically possible to enact a State electronic gold currency bill in time. Therefore, patriots need to organize alternative institutions that can grow out of the private sector, but will exercise some governmental authority. “[T]he Militia of the several States” are just such institutions. Their foundations can be laid in localities throughout each State in the form of private Citizens’ Homeland Security Associations, which will educate the public and State legislators on the need to revitalize the Militia, and will develop models of how the Militia should be organized. When the necessary statutes are enacted, the Associations could become the first “independent companies” incorporated in the Militia.

Now, obviously neither the Militia nor their proponents in Citizens’ Homeland Security Associations can initially be organized around the issue of money and banking, because so few people understand that issue. That the Militia could theoretically function as “big players” is not enough. There must also be a “big issue”, other than the impending crisis in money and banking, on the basis of which these “big players” can be organized and activated. Fortunately, that “big issue” already exists: namely, “homeland security”. This “big issue” can serve as the basis for revitalizing the Militia. Then, once the Militia have emerged as potential “big players”, they can address the monetary and banking crisis as part and parcel of “the big issue”—which of course it is, as the homeland cannot possibly be secure while suffering the throes of monetary and banking crises.

Preparing for a monetary, banking, and even general economic collapse is part of the Militia’s ultimate mission to resist foreign invaders or domestic usurpers and tyrants. In a “resistance economy”,

• Two economies will exist side by side: the collaborationist economy aboveground, and the patriotic economy underground. The underground economy will function as the economic arm of the Resistance. The collaborationist economy will provide the practical accommodation with the occupying regime necessary for the population to survive. But it will also serve the Resistance–for example, as a cover for supply of goods and services to the underground economy, as a source of intelligence, and as a locus for interference with the forces of occupation.

• Because patriots’ incomes, business and personal transactions, and other financial matters cannot be fully disclosed or reported, patriots will avoid the use of banks or like institutions that operate as arms of, interface with, report to, or are monitored or under surveillance by the occupying regime.

* Large supplies of normal “cash” will not be available through licit channels. The regime will order banks to supply “cash” to and receive it from established customers only, and then only consistent with the customers’ proven patterns of business, and with the bills being recorded by serial numbers and their progress through the economy thereafter traced. Large “cash” transactions in stores will be subject to reporting requirements that identify the purchasers and the nature of their transactions.

• Normal “cash” will be employed in underground transactions only if it also can be used in the aboveground economy—which will be difficult, because its holders will not be willing to explain where they obtained it. In addition to these problems, “cash” will not be trusted because of rampant inflation, fear of sudden currency call-ins, both domestic and foreign exchange controls, and widespread computerized surveillance of monetary transactions. Moreover, holders of legal, but rationed or otherwise particularly scare, goods and services offered in the underground economy will be unwilling to sell for “cash”. And few people will accept “cash” in outright illegal transactions—particularly trade in firearms and ammunition that the regime has banned.

• The preferred currency of the Resistance in the underground economy will be silver and gold. Specie coins bear no identifying serial numbers, and leave no paper or electronic trails. They are not easily destroyed. They are not subject to inflation, call-ins, or “demonetization” by decree. And, because they will not be used in the aboveground economy, they are never subject to surveillance or reporting.

• Thus, overall, a “resistance economy” will engender two parallel monetary systems: one, the collaborationist system, based on the “cash” the forces of occupation impose on society; the other, the Resistance system, based on silver and gold. When the occupation regime is overthrown, only the latter will survive.

Self-evidently, in preparing to operate in a “resistance economy”, “the Militia of the several States” will also ready themselves for any monetary and banking crisis short of a “resistance economy”, because the characteristics of a “resistance economy” are not far different from those to be expected in any economy experiencing a monetary and banking collapse. In particular, in such a crisis the country will suffer massive unemployment, bankruptcies, deranged markets, trade at a standstill, financial institutions closed or operating on sporadic schedules, “cash” either limited to what people happen to have in their own possession (in a depressionary collapse) or unlimited in amount but rapidly depreciating in purchasing power (in an hyperinflationary collapse)—and, in the face of all this, political impotence, gridlock, or chaos. Under these circumstances, attempts at usurpation and tyranny by politicians, bureaucrats, and allied special-interest groups will be the order of the day. And, if any of these succeed, the country will be plunged into a “resistance economy.”

What could revitalized “Militia of the several States” do right now?

First, the Militia could take steps internally to protect their own members against monetary and banking crises. Militiamen could be

• educated in the use of silver and gold as media of exchange and stores of value;

• required to maintain in their personal possession minimum stocks of silver and gold coins, viewing these as no less important than their firearms, ammunition, and other accoutrements;

• encouraged to establish within their communities economic enclaves in which individuals could employ silver and gold as media of exchange when other currencies failed;

• assigned the task of developing a parallel structure of prices, expressed both in silver and gold and in paper currency, for common goods and services within those localities;

• requested actually to transact business in silver and gold whenever possible (although this experiment should first to conducted in a State with no income or sales tax, so as to simplify accounting matters).

Second, the Militia could exert organized political pressure for monetary reforms—such as adoption of a State electronic gold currency bill—in their respective States.

But the first step is to revitalize “the Militia of the several States”. Without those institutions in operation, everything else is wishful thinking.

Edwin Vieira, Jr., holds four degrees from Harvard: A.B. (Harvard College), A.M. and Ph.D. (Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), and J.D. (Harvard Law School).

For more than thirty years he has practiced law, with emphasis on constitutional issues. In the Supreme Court of the United States he successfully argued or briefed the cases leading to the landmark decisions Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, and Communications Workers of America v. Beck, which established constitutional and statutory limitations on the uses to which labor unions, in both the private and the public sectors, may apply fees extracted from nonunion workers as a condition of their employment.

Dr. Vieira has written numerous monographs and articles in scholarly journals, and lectured throughout the county. Dr. Vieira is the author of the following books:

Pieces of Eight: The Monetary Powers and Disabilities of the United States Constitution (II Volumes)The most comprehensive study in existence of American monetary law and history viewed from a constitutional perspective. Available on Amazon.

How to Dethrone the Imperial JudiciaryIn this brilliant, accessible, and documented work, Dr. Edwin Vieira offers us the best researched and clearest over view to date of the power of the people to control a runaway judiciary. Available on Amazon.

Constitutional “Homeland Security”, Volume One, The Nation in ArmsThis book explains why “the Militia of the several States” are the only establishments the Constitution explicitly empowers to provide the crucial elements of “homeland security”. And it describes the practical steps Americans should take to revitalize the constitutional Militia in each of the States. Available on Amazon.

Constitutional “Homeland Security” Volume Two, The Sword and Sovereignty: Constitutional Principles of “the Militia of the several States”A comprehensive CD-ROM study—2,304 pages in length, with 6,544 footnotes and endnotes—of the constitutional and statutory history of America’s Militia, which gives special emphasis to the unique and indispensable rôle of the Militia as the institutions through which WE THE PEOPLE themselves ultimately provide, or withhold, the consent of the governed upon which this country’s form of government depends for its legitimacy. The Sword and Sovereignty derives the basic legal and practical principles of the Militia from a detailed study of the pre-constitutional Militia statutes of Rhode Island and Virginia selected, for reasons the book makes clear, as exemplars of what happened throughout America in that era. It explains how these principles are embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and how they should be applied in the operation of America’s true federal system of government—indeed, why it is Congress’s and every State’s duty to see to the organization of, and every American’s personal duty to participate in, the Militia, more imperatively now than ever before. It exposes the dangerous fallacy in the contemporary “individual-right” misinterpretation of the Second Amendment, and explains how the Supreme Court’s Heller decision reduced American’s right * * * to keep and bear Arms to a level far below what their forebears enjoyed when the Constitution and Bill of Rights were ratified. And it examines ways in which revitalized Militia of the several States could, should, and if they were properly revitalized would deal with many of the most pressing contemporary problems this country faces—such as the correction of rogue public officials, the supervision of the military-industrial complex, the conduct of honest elections, the provision of an alternative currency, etc. Available on Amazon.

Thirteen WordsDr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. examines the phrase in the Constitution of the United States that is most overlooked today, even though it is also the most important constitutional phrase of all for Americans to understand and apply if they are to preserve their country as an independent, free, and prosperous republic, “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State”. Available on Amazon.

Three RightsDr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. elucidates the three indispensable rights of popular sovereignty, popular self-government, and popular resistance to usurpation and tyranny that lie at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, the original Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. Three Rightsproves that these documents are not somehow separate and independent, but instead are integral components of a single coherent plan of government the foundational precepts of which call upon We the People to retain in their own hands, and to wield directly when circumstances demand it, the ultimate power of sovereignty in the defense of “a free State”. Available on Amazon.

By Tyranny Out of Necessity: The Bastardy of Martial LawAll to many Americans today accept the notion they, should a “national emergency’ occur, only “martial law” could maintain “law and order” and secure the continuation of vital public services, and therefore “martial law” is not only desirable but inevitable in an era so fraught with “terrorism” and other dangers against which ordinary citizens are hopelessly unprepared to defend themselves. Available on Amazon.

The Purse and the Sword: Imminent Dangers of U.S. Economic and Homeland Security PoliciesLecture presentation featuring Dr. Edwin Vieira., Jr. speaking. A four disc set, 8 hours in length. Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. uses his “Visual Constitution” to address two of the most pressing issues in our nation:

• The Purse: America’s Economic Crisis…what can and should the government do? Few Americans understand our economic system and its complexities. Hear Dr. Vieira explain, in easy to understand language, the lawful Constitutional powers the government possesses for dealing with money and the economy. Hear the common sense application of those powers, the abuses and unlawful expansions of those powers, as well as the only logical way through which we can return sanity to our economic policies.

• The Sword: “Homeland Security”…how the Militia provides our only true security. Today an unending series of “crisis” are being used to rationalize the continual loss of liberty and expansion of government in size and scope. After years of research, Dr. Vieira presents the lawful and Constitutional remedies for threats to our “homeland security”. Hear how “the Militia of the several States” are the ultimate security against all threats—both foreign and domestic. Learn what you can do to help with “homeland security” in your community and State! Available on Amazon.

Cra$hmaker: A Federal Affair: A NovelA not-so-fictional story of an engineered crash of the Federal Reserve System, and the political upheaval it causes. Available on Amazon.